Abstract
In the Interactive Alignment Theory, alignment is promoted by dialogic features on a dialogue-monologue continuum. More alignment in prototypical dialogue (a chat among friends) than in prototypical monologue (a lecture) seems plausible, but the role of other dialogic features for alignment is less clear. The current study tests the joint influence of two such features: communicative intent and a live interlocutor. Four structural priming experiments contrasted the magnitude of structural alignment between a dialogue situation that involved a joint task and an otherwise identical monologue situation that lacked a communicative component. None of the four experiments showed any statistical differences in alignment between dialogue and monologue. Post-hoc analyses on the pooled data of Experiments 2–4 further suggested that individual differences in attention (operationalized through reaction time variability in the picture verification component of the task we used to elicit alignment) might modulate overall structural alignment, and that dialogue (presumably through sustaining attention) might be able to sustain alignment over time to a greater extent than monologue. These results suggest a role for attention in supporting structural alignment, but the lack of clear differences between alignment magnitudes in monologue and dialogue (absent in individual experiments and weak even in the pooled analyses) suggests that communicative intent and a physically-present interlocutor have at best a minor role in promoting alignment.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 104052 |
| Journal | Journal of Memory and Language |
| Volume | 110 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2020 |
Funding
This research was supported by an R01 from NICHD (HD051030) awarded to Victor S. Ferreira and by an R01 from NICHD (HD050287) and an R01 from NIDCD (DC011492) awarded to Tamar H. Gollan. In addition, Daniel Kleinman was supported by a Beckman Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with funding provided by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. Heartfelt thanks go to Chris Schmader for recording the prime sentences in Experiment 1, to Patrick Chambers at Northwestern and Alexander Simmons, Kaylie VanGalder, and Cameron Bunker at Grand Valley, for collecting and coding the data in Experiment 1, to Emily Barker, Cristina Lloyd, Yashna Bowen, Monica Jeong, Lillian Hwang, Katherine Ong, Kristi Cheng and Grace Rasmusson at UCSD, for testing the participants and coding the responses in Experiments 2, 3 and 4, and to Kristi Cheng, Grace Rasmusson and Cristina Lloyd for recording the prime sentences in Experiments 2 and 3. The authors declare no conflict of interest. This research was supported by an R01 from NICHD ( HD051030 ) awarded to Victor S. Ferreira and by an R01 from NICHD ( HD050287 ) and an R01 from NIDCD ( DC011492 ) awarded to Tamar H. Gollan. In addition, Daniel Kleinman was supported by a Beckman Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with funding provided by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. Heartfelt thanks go to Chris Schmader for recording the prime sentences in Experiment 1, to Patrick Chambers at Northwestern and Alexander Simmons, Kaylie VanGalder, and Cameron Bunker at Grand Valley, for collecting and coding the data in Experiment 1, to Emily Barker, Cristina Lloyd, Yashna Bowen, Monica Jeong, Lillian Hwang, Katherine Ong, Kristi Cheng and Grace Rasmusson at UCSD, for testing the participants and coding the responses in Experiments 2, 3 and 4, and to Kristi Cheng, Grace Rasmusson and Cristina Lloyd for recording the prime sentences in Experiments 2 and 3. The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Keywords
- Attention
- Communication
- Dative alternation
- Joint task
- Structural priming
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
- Language and Linguistics
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Linguistics and Language
- Artificial Intelligence